


A New Sensei

by Rmlohner



Category: Cobra Kai (Web Series), Karate Kid (Movies)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-25
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-08 05:08:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26640103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rmlohner/pseuds/Rmlohner
Summary: A hypothetical Season 3. Daniel is about to close Miyagi-Do for good, when a certain other potential sensei arrives. Kreese isn't going to know what hit him.
Kudos: 9





	1. Chapter 1

Daniel could barely hold back his tears as he looked at the picture of his old sensei. “I tried my best. I thought I was doing the right thing. I’m sorry.” Even now, he couldn’t figure out how things had gone so wrong. His daughter in the hospital, and so many others badly injured, probably a class action lawsuit in the making, all spun out of his earnest effort to continue Mr. Miyagi’s teachings. His wife was right; the best thing to do was to shut the whole thing down.

“I hope I’m not disturbing.” The voice startled him so much he almost dropped the picture. He turned to the new arrival, a woman he was sure he’d never seen before, yet she carried herself with quite an air of familiarity in the dojo. She nodded at the picture. “That’s a good photo. A bit younger than I remember him, but that wisdom’s still in those eyes.”

Daniel struggled to compose himself. “You knew Mr. Miyagi?”

She nodded. “You’re Daniel LaRusso, right? He talked about you quite a bit. My name’s Julie Pierce. My grandfather was in the war with him, and he helped me out with some problems I was having in high school.”

Daniel smiled. “Sounds pretty familiar. He was just that kind of guy.”

Julie looked away. “I was sorry to miss the funeral. I went into the army after I graduated, and I was overseas. But when I heard about this place called Miyagi-Do, I had to check it out.”

“Well, I’m sorry, but you’re a bit too late. I’m shutting the place down.”

Julie was shocked as Daniel laid out the story of the school brawl. “Yeah, I can see your wife’s point. But it does seem like a shame to let the whole thing go.”

Daniel shook his head. “If I’m going to save my marriage, this is the only way. And right now, that’s what’s important to me.”

Julie gasped. “Hold on, I just had an idea. Why don’t I take the place over?”

Daniel frowned. “Really? Because let me tell you, there’s a lot more work involved than you might think. And you’re sure the army would be okay with it?”

She nodded. “Honorable discharge. And from what you’ve told me, this town probably needs his teachings now more than ever.”

For the first time in the conversation, Daniel gave a genuine happy smile. “Well, any student of Mr. Miyagi is certainly welcome to try. And Kreese was in the army too. I’d love to see the look on his face when he finds out about you.”

Julie grinned. “Oh, he’ll be seeing me. That’s a promise.”


	2. Chapter 2

Johnny didn’t know how he could still be surprised by just how bad a hangover could be, but now it was happening again. But even through the jackhammer to his brain, he remembered everything that had driven him to the bender, having the true depths of his mistake in resurrecting Cobra Kai thrown in his face and likely having driven several more kids down the same path he’d suffered.

The one saving grace was that not all of his students had been in that lesson with Kreese, and he had to hope they weren’t all just too injured from the brawl. He figured the best way to find out just how many of those kids he still had a chance with was through his new Facebook account, so he braved the bright computer screen and logged on after a few failed tries from the pounding in his head.

But it wasn’t anything from his students that first caught his eye once his account came up. It was a friend request from none other than Ali Mills Schwarber. And now that he thought back, he did vaguely remember throwing his cell phone away at the beach when an alert came on. That would be some good money wasted once he was sober enough to deal with it, but for now he couldn’t click his confirmation fast enough.

He quickly started to send her a private message, but soon found himself at a loss for what to say. It had been so long since he’d last seen Ali, and they hadn’t exactly been on good terms when she left. But the mere fact that she’d responded to that text he’d accidentally sent must mean she was open to mending fences, right?

Ultimately, he settled for a simple apology for all the crap he’d put her through, ending with his hope that they could get back in touch more often. At a time like this, it felt like he was being tossed a life raft to have a single person willing to give him the time of day. And amazingly, it didn’t take her long to respond.

“You can probably imagine what a surprise it was to get that message out of the blue. I’ll be honest, because hey, the two of us have definitely earned that right with each other, I haven’t thought about you much since leaving California. Daniel, either. Maybe I was forcing myself to forget it, because trust me, I have my own share of regrets from back then. But it was nice to hear from you, and I’d love to get back in touch. Maybe even on the phone.” She then gave her number.

Johnny instinctively reached for his pocket, then suddenly remembered his phone was currently choking on sand. After a brief groaning fit that he was quite thankful no one was around to see, he headed out to the store.

*

Daniel woke up to find Amanda beside him in Sam’s hospital room. He sighed inwardly; she’d already been asleep when he got back from what was supposed to be closing up the dojo, but there was no way to put off the conversation any more. And sure enough, his movement caused her to stir too, and she whispered to him “Everything go okay?”

He silently pointed to indicate they should leave the room while Sam was still asleep. Once out in the hall, he said, “I’m done with the dojo, absolutely. Except…that doesn’t quite mean the dojo itself is done.”

Amanda quirked an eyebrow. “I’m going to turn around now, and then I’m going to turn back and we’re both going to pretend you didn’t just say something that would make me crane kick you into the wall.”

Daniel put his hands up. “I swear, it’s nothing to do with me! I’m out of the place, absolutely. Except right when I was closing up, this woman came by and it turns out she was Mr. Miyagi’s student for a while too.”

Amanda didn’t say anything, her glare simply getting deeper. So he continued on, “So now she wants to try running the place. It was entirely her idea; I didn’t ask her for anything. And Sam’s not going, I’ve got no problem with that.” 

Amanda folded her arms. “Let’s just see how long you stick with it this time.” They both noticed Sam waking up. “But for now, we have more important things to do than this argument.” As they went in to wish their daughter good morning, Daniel knew the conversation was far from over.


	3. Chapter 3

Julie was in high spirits as she arrived at the Miyagi-Do dojo for her first day as its new sensei. It still felt surreal to actually be in Mr. Miyagi’s own home after he’d talked so much about it and his time with Daniel when she knew him back in Boston, yet his descriptions had been so detailed that she felt like she had already seen it all at the same time.

As Daniel’s car pulled up, she was surprised to see he wasn’t alone. “This is my wife, Amanda,” he said as they approached. “She insisted on meeting you.”

The woman had an oddly hostile expression, which Julie tried to meet with a smile but wasn’t sure how well she did. “Well, I assure you I’ll do my best with the place, ma’am. Mr. Miyagi helped me out so much when I really needed it, and I take this job very seriously.”

Amanda didn’t seem very assuaged. “Well, I’m sure you’ve heard about the whole mess that just happened at the school? I’d be surprised if any parents actually let their kids still come here. I know I’m not.”

Julie struggled to keep the smile on her face. “However it turns out, I’m going to do my best to avoid something else like that. Let’s just say my own training with Mr. Miyagi had some things I’m finding pretty familiar right now.”

Amanda didn’t say anything more, and Daniel took over the conversation just to end the silence. “Okay, come on. If anyone does show up, we both need to be here today.”

*

In the end, it turned out quite a few of the kids came back. Including one notable new face; it had been a while since Daniel had seen his daughter’s old friend Aisha, and what he’d heard lately had him worried, but here she was coming into his dojo. He winced; it would take a while for him to stop thinking of it like that.

And unfortunately, but predictably, the girl was soon surrounded by the other students in a quite threatening position. Daniel hurried over, shouting “Hey, what’s going on here?”

Demetri was the first to speak up. “She’s Cobra Kai. And after what happened, everyone knows what they’re like.”

Daniel shouted all the kids into silence. “As I recall, it was one of them who got hurt the worst from one of ours. And do you really think she’d just be openly showing up here if she was up to something?” Turning to Aisha, he continued, “So what are you doing here?”

The girl struggled to meet his eyes. “Sensei Kreese took over the whole dojo and kicked Sensei Lawrence out after the fight. And the stuff he was talking about, I didn’t want any part of it. I’ve been bullied my whole life, and I’m not doing it to anyone else.”

Daniel smiled. “Then you’re in the right place. And if you’re truly being honest, with both me and yourself, I think you’ll do well here. I know Sam’s been missing you.” He raised his voice to address the others. “Everybody got that? This is your fellow student, and I expect you to treat her like one.”

He was gratified to see nods from everyone. Then Chris said, “So what’s the lesson for today, Sensei?”

Daniel shook his head. “That’s the second big thing I have to talk to you about. Recent events have shown me I’m not fit to be your Sensei. Maybe later I’ll be able to come back, but for now, it just can’t work. So I’m only here today to introduce your new Sensei.”

Julie recognized her cue and stepped up. “I’m Julie Pierce, and I know you must be asking what makes me fit to take over. Well, first let me just say that I’m sure you must have all been very angry for what happened at school, and a lot of you probably still are. Well, I know all about that. When I was your age, I was angry all the time. My parents died in a car accident when I was just a kid, and my school had some horrible bullies. And I’m ashamed to say that sometimes I took it out on people who didn’t deserve it.” She nodded toward the picture of Miyagi. “And he’s the one who helped me get past that. Ever since, I’ve been grateful for the life he helped me achieve, and I hope to help you all do the same.”

The students were all looking at her with rapt attention. She smiled and continued, “Maybe I can go into more details later. But for now, all you need to know is that I’m going to do my best to pass on Mr. Miyagi’s legacy, just like Sensei LaRusso. And if you give me a chance, we can do great things together.”

They all shouted as one, “Yes, Sensei Pierce!” Julie didn’t know how she kept from crying, but somehow she managed, and continued on with her first lesson.


	4. Chapter 4

Robby had spent his first day after the fight hiding out under the boardwalk, only daring a couple trips out when his hunger became too much to bear. He ended up getting his dinner out of the garbage when it turned out some beachgoers really didn’t care for pizza crusts. But he couldn’t kid himself that this was in any way sustainable. Even if he stayed right where he was, the cops would likely find him soon.

Which was why he was now walking into the station. There was simply no other way out that he could see, with no money and no one he could approach that wouldn’t be watched in case he did exactly that. He told the man at the front desk, “I’m Robby Lawrence, and I’m turning myself in.”

*

Johnny started the day just like the last one, turning on the news hoping for any sign of his son. The newest evidence of how badly he’d failed his flesh and blood had been a major part of the bender he’d taken, and the ongoing lack of any word about his whereabouts was killing him inside. But before very long, the phone rang.

The voice on the other end was one he’d never expected. “Sorry to call so early,” said Ali. “But after our messages I looked up what’s been going on over there, and this really felt like something we should actually be talking about.”

Johnny sighed. “What’s happening is I screwed everything up, as usual. Go ahead, say you were right about me all along.”

“No, no, that’s not what this is about at all. Look, everyone’s an ass on some level as a teenager. The better ones grow out of it, and from what I’m seeing, that’s what you did.”

He could only laugh. “I taught a bunch of kids the same stuff that screwed me up so bad, and they started a gang war. Let’s not mince words, that’s what it is.”

There was a pause as Ali clearly had to think over how to respond to that. “Okay, you’re right,” she finally said. “But you were trying to help them, right? And I have to imagine you did some good along the way.”

“And what did it get me? Kreese stole my dojo, half the kids dropped out for who knows where, and the others are going to turn out just like I was.”

“Okay, I’m going to say something you’re not going to want to hear. Not everything is on you. The very fact that those kids left meant they were able to decide on their own it wasn’t right for them, which means the others should have too, and if they still want to be bullies after seeing where that leads, that’s on them.”

Johnny shook his head. “It’s going to take a while for me to see it that way.”

Ali was undeterred. “Well, the bigger reason I’m calling is that I saw some things about that kid who fell off the balcony. You probably saw on my Facebook that I’m a pediatric surgeon now, and I’d like to be able to come there and see if I can help.”

Now that really was unexpected. “Really? That would be amazing.” But then his eye was drawn back to the TV, where a picture of Robby was on the screen. “Hold on, something’s come up. I’ll call you back.”

He was glued to the screen as the report spelled out the story of Robby being in custody.

*

Julie was uneasy as she watched the Miyagi-Do students file in for only her second day. The first had gone about as well as could be expected, but having to deal with one of their own being in jail so soon after her arrival, while she was still feeling out her relationship with everyone, was something she never expected to be dealing with when she proposed the deal.

Figuring she might as well just rip the band-aid off, as soon as everyone got into formation she said, “We all know what’s going on with Robby Lawrence. And I’m not going to act like I have any personal knowledge of it, not like you all do. So I’ll open up the floor: does anyone have anything they feel the need to say about it?”

Chris was the first to step up. “We all looked up to Robby. He was the place’s first ever student, how could we not? But I saw what happened. Miguel was winning the fight, but then he stopped. And Robby was the one who kept it going, until he kicked the kid over the rail.”

Suddenly, everyone was shouting, and a few even looked close to coming to blows. Julie tried to put a stop to it, but found her voice just wasn’t able to cut through the quagmire. So after looking around for the best way to make some noise, she went with climbing into one of the classic cars and honking the horn.

With everyone again looking at her, she went on, “So this is obviously a touchy subject, and I’m sure a lot of you feel protective of Robby. But let’s get a couple things clear. Who else actually saw what happened?” About half their hands went up. She nodded and said, “And so I’ll ask all of you, did it happen like Chris said or not?” None of them said anything beyond a few mumbles. Julie nodded. “I’ll take that as a yes. Like I said before, anger isn’t a healthy way to deal with your problems. It’s natural to feel angry about something like this, but no matter how good an idea something seems when you’re feeling it, you have to try to resist it.”

She was happy to see the kids were starting to calm down. Aisha raised her hand, and at Julie’s nod said, “I’ve been angry about a lot of things lately. It’s why I joined Cobra Kai in the first place. And I’ve tried to fight it, but it just seems to get harder every time.”

Julie gave her an encouraging smile. “Realizing it won’t be easy is an important step. And lucky for you, I’ve figured out a few tricks over the years. Let’s start by all taking five deep breaths, and then see how everyone’s feeling then.”

It was a good class.


	5. Chapter 5

Johnny stormed into the police station as a man on a mission, feeling a sense of righteous fury worthy of a Sidney Furie hero. Which made it all the more deflating when the desk sergeant wasn’t impressed at all by his demands to see his son.

“Sir, please take a seat and wait your turn.” No matter how much he ranted, that was the only response he got. So eventually he had no choice but to listen to it. He was barely paying attention to any of the people ahead of him. All he could think about was Robby, and how he might end up even worse than Johnny himself because of this. Memories of Dutch came flooding in, and he became newly determined to not let his son go down that route.

After what seemed an eternity, he was called up, and gave Robby’s name. He was sure the man knew all about the issue already with how big the news story was, but something told him that at this point, anything he did to point that out would just result in a longer wait time, so he struggled to grit his teeth and wait out the agonizing process of looking up the information. At last he was informed that Robby was in a holding cell while a preliminary hearing was being arranged, but there was also no way to see him right now. “We can let you know when an opening is available, if you’ll give your contact information.” Johnny was seething inside as he gave his phone number and his new email address, knowing that for once he could do nothing with all his skills to help.

*

Robby had done his best to keep to himself among the other residents of his holding cell, and so far they seemed content to keep things that way. He’d long given up on keeping track of the time; the complete lack of anything to do made it slow to a crawl no matter how much or little he snuck a peek at the clock in the hall outside, and all he knew was that it was still the same day.

His private reveries were interrupted by a dismayingly familiar voice saying “You’ve got to be kidding me.” He reluctantly looked up, and sure enough Trey and Cruz, plus their new partner whose name he’d never learned, were being escorted into the cell.

Robby stood up as they made a beeline for them. “Hey, whatever got you caught, I had nothing to do with it. I’ve been in here all day.”

Trey got into his face. “Well, it seems someone ratted about our little hiding spot at the dock. I know none of us shared that around, so who do you suppose that leaves?”

He stuck his hands up. “Hey, I swear I didn’t tell anyone. Maybe it was Mr. LaRusso. Or hey, how much do you really trust this guy?” He nodded toward the new partner.

The kid didn’t react well to that, and swung a giant haymaker at Robby’s face. Robby easily dodged it, and also blocked the follow-up blows with no problem. Cruz laughed. “You didn’t happen to pick up some new moves since last time, did you?”

Seeing no other way out, Robby assumed a fighting guard. “You want to find out?” He had his doubts about how intimidating he actually looked, but when you were falling off a cliff, you might as well try to fly.

All three rushed at him without any more talking. There was no conscious thought involved in Robby’s actions anymore, as the flurry of attacks from all directions forced him into a purely instinctive flurry of blocks in which he could barely manage any offensive moves of his own. By then, the guard outside had unlocked the door and was doing his best to break the fight up. After it became clear just how much he was dealing with, he shouted back into the hall, “I could use some help in here!”

As more guards came running, Trey broke out of the guard’s grip and came at him with a sloppy but incredibly powerful jumping punch. Robby easily ducked to the side and hit at his opponent’s legs, just like he’d been trained. But unfortunately, this time the result was that Trey was knocked horizontal as his leap continued, and he hit the cell’s back wall square on his head. The sickening crunch echoed unmistakably, and everyone froze in place to stare at the prone body. The newly arrived guards turned Trey over, and it was clear he was already gone.

Robby couldn’t feel a thing in his body as the enormity of what had just happened washed over him. He sank to the floor with tears in his eyes, barely noticing as he was grabbed under the arms and dragged out of the cell.


End file.
